Voters in Peoria Township will have a chance in November to vote on the idea of Ranked Choice Voting in a non-binding referendum. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) gives the electorate more power while political parties and politicians get less. I like that idea and hope you will, too.

The language on the ballot reads: “Should the State of Illinois adopt ranked choice voting — a system which gives voters the opportunity to rank multiple choices in a process that ensures the winner has gained approval by the majority of voters, allows voters to vote their true preference, gets rid of the ‘spoiler effect,’ and encourages more positive campaigning — for statewide and federal elections.”

Ranked Choice Voting is used in Maine for its governor race and its U.S. Congressional and Senate elections and in Alaska. It is used in numerous municipalities, including New York City and San Francisco. It will soon be used to elect City Council and the Mayor in Evanston. Instead of run-off elections, all that is required for RCV is some extra numbers crunching by the computers counting ballots on election night.

The way it works is that when voters go to the polls, they can choose to rank the candidates in order of first choice, second choice and third choice (and so on). Then, when the votes are tabulated, if any candidate has more than 50%, that person is declared the winner. But if no candidate has 50%, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. If you voted for that candidate, your ballot still counts, but now with your vote going to your second choice. For those who voted for candidates still in the race, their first choice is unchanged. This process continues until one candidate receives more than 50%, and they are declared the winner. Usually that’s all that it takes.

For example, in Alaska in 2022, there were four candidates running for United States Senate. None of them got 50% of the vote. An instant run-off was conducted, eliminating the fourth-place candidate, and then the third-place candidate. Voters who had voted for the third- and fourth-place candidates had their second choices applied. After two instant run-offs, Lisa Murkowski made it into the winner’s circle with 54% of the vote.

In contrast, in Georgia there were three candidates for U.S. Senate. Since none received 50% of the vote, the top two ran in a run-off election a month later, costing $10 million, another month of campaigning, and voters had to return to the polls a month later. The instant run-off election costs nothing more than the original election’s cost, and was conducted as soon as all of the votes had been received.

Ranked Choice Voting offers a simple, inexpensive way to encourage civil discussion and give voters greater power. The simple act of choosing a first choice then a second choice will encourage candidates to respect a voter’s second choice in close races, which will help make political races less about name calling and more about policy.

— David Pittman, Peoria